My Mother Was a Lion
by Epidantrix
Summary: What if Lucy hadn't gone to Tenroujima? What if she was left behind, and left to fend for herself? What if she left the guild after hearing the news? What if, during her travels, Lucy is confronted with a fabulous secret? Lucy isn't a weak little mage...she's a big strong (half)spirit! Yes, she has to reverse age, train, and lose some memories, but who cares? She has a tail!


Lucy sighed, absently stirring the milkshake she'd ordered. At a nearby cafe, of course. Mira was absent, having left the guild to go to Tenroujima. She couldn't help but feel slightly sad, especially when thinking of Cana. She'd heard the card mages troubles, but upon offering to go with her, was informed that she had already chosen Jet as a partner. A surprise, but Lucy understood. Jet was, after all, a speed-mage, who could help Cana maneuver around a battlefield, also dropping her cards in strategic places, if needed. 'I probably wouldn't have been much help anyways...' Lucy frowned, and lifted the strawberry milkshake to her lips, only to discover that it was long gone.

Standing up, she looked around the quiet guild. With Natsu and the others gone, there was almost never a loud moment, except for when Droy wailed at the fact that he'd been left behind, while Jet went. As he was doing now. Sighing quietly, she skipped lightly over to the table, putting her trademark smile on her face. "C'mon Droy, cheer up! With Levy spending more time with Jet, she'll just have longer to notice his faults! Besides, they're not even on the same team!" Droy sobbed quietly, and, sighing, she turned around, giving up. She and others had been trying to cheer him up, using the same logic lines that she was, and it had been largely unsuccessful. She made her way to her normal seat at the bar, and continued her observation of the guild. Her thoughts wandered to the tournament, wondering how Loke and Gray were doing. Yes, she was trying not to pick favorites, but Loke _was_ her spirit, so it was rather hard.

Speak of the devil, Loke had just appeared. However, instead of showing up with one of his lame catchphrases, and with his own power, he was using hers, and had a very somber air. His normal tie had been replaced with a black one, too. Lucy sat up instantly, with a million things running through her head. First off, they should be in the middle of the testing, why would Loke leave? Also, he had used her power, not his. Loke always used his when he came unannounced, so what changed? Also-also, why would he be looking so sad? Just as she was about to ask Loke one of these many questions, someone materialized in the middle of the guild. It took her a moment, but she soon recognized him as someone who had gone to the island...why was he here? And, now that she thinks about it, he's not a member… so what happened?

"I'm sorry." Lucy blinked, surprised. Looking at Loke, she could see that he was barely stopping himself from punching something. Turning back to the man, her eyes slowly got wider and sadder, as he told of everything that happened. Grimoire Heart, Zeref, Acnologia, all of it. Turning to Loke, she buried herself in the front of his suit, now understanding the black tie. She cried her eyes out, barely registering the others cries, or the fact that Loke was carrying her to her apartment. For the first time since she ran away, she cried herself to sleep, wishing it was a dream.

* * *

"Open, gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!" Lucy called out the bull, dismissing his perverted comments and carefully watching the group of mages in front of her. For the past month, she had been taking solo-missions, and this was the most dangerous one she had taken yet. The dark guild Reality Break had recently been causing major problems for a small town, and she had taken the job request to bring them down. "Taurus, you take the one's that have the staffs, they can't affect you with their magic." Taurus nods, mooing loudly, and they split off from each other. She pulls out her whip, and sprints towards the group of mages that don't use illusion magic. Surprisingly, celestial spirits were unaffected by illusions.

Bringing her attention back to the fight, she leaps over the group of mages that were rushing towards her, and lands in the middle of the large group. Back when she was on Team Natsu, she would have been cowering behind Erza, but not anymore. she flicks her wrist, barely watching as several mages are flung into a nearby tree. Turning around, she grabs the wrist of a man who had been about to impale her. Throwing him over her shoulder, she spins her whip around, grabbing a nearby fallen log, mowing down around 15 mages with the log. It's almost impossible to believe that her, little "Lucky" Lucy Heartfilia had managed to become this strong in a month. Sighing, she quickly dispatched the rest of the mages, relieved that Taurus had managed to get the others. Reality Break had a habit of using illusions to immobilise their opponent, and then just casually slitting their throat. Shaking her head, she pulled out the magic canceling ropes from Virgo. 5 minutes later, she was walking back through the forest towards town. Another 15, and she was on the train to Magnolia, reward in hand.

As she'd thought earlier, it had been a month since the Tenrou group disappeared. Lucy had been taking on solo-missions, and getting stronger as well. When anyone asked why she was taking so many missions, her answer would be about rent. Obviously, since her team was gone, she didn't have as much help on missions, but that didn't mean she was low on money. In fact it was quite the opposite. She had a surplus. The reason she took so many missions was because she saw ghosts _every_ time she entered the guild-hall. Natsu and Gray fighting, Levy reading, Erza chatting with Mira… Every time. Last night, she had made the decision to leave. There was no way that she would ever be able to hold a conversation, especially with a ghost Happy sitting on her head, or a false Mira offering her a strawberry shake.

"Loke." She said his name quietly, but he was there in an instant. Loke sat next to her quietly, pulling her into a sideways hug. He knew that she was thinking of leaving, because she was tracing the mark on her hand. Recently, The blonde celestial mage had been calling her spirits out more and more often, usually to talk, or to just sit and hug. He was worried about her. She was leaving the guild that had been her family, and the only ones that had put a genuine smile on her face since her mother had died. He looked down at her, watching the thoughts flit across her face. After a while though, she settled into a dreamless sleep. Sighing, he watched the landscape roll by.


End file.
